


Break and Slip

by anggephi



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 03:05:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13561398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anggephi/pseuds/anggephi
Summary: A young Mars steps out of the domestic borders she is locked in and ventures alone, only to discover something-or someone she never thought she would meet.





	Break and Slip

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Long oneshot! 
> 
> If you finish this fic, kudos-

Confined within thick, untied curtains, the interior of a house became chilling as the fireplace is running out of resources for combustion. A little red-haired girl was ambling the interior of the house as if she was to record the details of the floor plan, but in fact she was alone.

The last of the coal shards were glowing bright as her lustrous yet cunning eyes did. Atop the fireplace lay a picture of two Team Rocket grunts, a portrait of herself, and calligraphy of her name, “Mars”.

 

“Hmm, I wonder when my parents would come back?” she told herself and the Glameow that kept her company purred and outstretched its arms after a nap on its bean bed.

 There was no reply, except the faint zs of the TV in which the antenna cable was loosely connected. The “No signal” message kept going back in and out of the screen that prompted Mars to fix the cable herself. It did not take her long to fix the connection, and what flashed onscreen was some news that made her prop herself on the sofa and concentrated-

“Team Rocket to be disbanded this fall-”

 _Huh?_ An adult-like inquiry pops out of her head. She immediately remembers her parents-grunts of Team Rocket dressed in those gray uniforms concealed in thick trench coats whenever they went to work-they, she knew, were actually doing things she could not tell if it was good or evil. But of course, they were working for her. After all, they had no other choice but to solve that accident, and she was the outcome.

The fireplace was but a heap of gray-white ash, and before the ash would create a huge mess, Mars quickly cleaned up the fireplace but opted not to replace the coal, as she is quite afraid of the fire she would produce with matches.

The interior of the house became colder, although it is still fairly warmer compared outside. When the Glameow crawled near the curtains, it began to run, and one of its claws left a tear on the cloth. The force gave Mars a glimpse of what was happening outside-something she rarely could do as she was a sunlight outcast for some reason.

Tiny, whitish crystals fell down the skies, sparkling as it reflected sunlight. The trees were not green like the ones she was taught with standard textbooks used by her homeschool teacher. Instead, those were but huge woody stems with dry branches sticking out and rime (although she didn’t know it was called) covering the whole thing.

Awed by what she saw, Mars opened the door, only to have her front self slightly covered in graupel. Outside was raining with semi-damp snow, and she shut the door as the cold was too unbearable. She instantly wiped the damp, slushy snow from her face and t-shirt, and gradually she was feeling slightly warmer. With instinct cues, Mars ran upstairs and into her bedroom, where she opened her wardrobe and luckily there was a brown, turtle-neck sweater along with a pink, knee-length skirt and white, woolly OTK socks And before leaving, she saw a mint-colored scarf and then tied it around her neck. A pair of riding boots which her small feet easily slipped into finished her winter outfit, and thus she went outside, discerning the cool, bitter afternoon waft with the keys slipped into the skirt’s pocket.

 

At first, she was hesitant to walk further away. After all, she never did go outside, but she was just bypassing some restriction and thought that _anyway, my parents aren’t here_. Even further away from home, Mars soon saw clear, sleet-coated roads and a few workers cleaning up the slippery ice layers and she followed some of the roads without any idea where she would go-

Five minutes passed and she was already on a grassy and snowy land. There are skiers and Trainers around, training whatever Pokémon they had on hand. Mars tried to avoid the tall grass as she saw some Trainers get into random wild Pokémon encounters which could actually harm her.

What came out of the sauntering led Mars into what seemed to be her dead end. The path onwards was covered in tall grass, and hopping through might not be the best way. Scaling the icy cliffs would only put her to more risks.

Mars stood there, wondering how she might go further. Three minutes passed and she thought of going back home, but before she could turn back, a faint, eccentric tune filled her ears. She noticed that as she stepped further from where she stopped, the tune grew louder. She did not notice the vertical leaf blades sliding against her boots or the footprints she left on the snow, as long as she could follow the mysterious cry.

However, while Mars unwittingly forgot the risk she just entered a wild Sneasel jumped out of the grass. Frightened, she dodged the dual-typed Pokémon and ran to the direction she was facing. She did not look back, and she covered at least two meters before the Sneasel made a long jump, facing her again. The wild Pokémon attempted to scratch her which she was able to dodge in time. The wild Pokémon did not resist and ergo, a single Feint Attack knocked the jinxed redhead down into the grass, leaving her with a strange, numb pain and tunnel vision, something to wail for a second.

With all she could see, all she did was to stretch her hands and feel the surroundings. She could hardly see where the Sneasel went, but she heard a slashing sound and then something lightweight go thud on the ground. The temporary vision loss was gone now, and so did the crippling pain from the Pokémon’s attack, so Mars stood up and saw a boy run a flight of stairs, clutching a Poké Ball and a Murkrow following behind him.

Without the willingness to go back home, Mars climbed the stairs up, and there was an entrance hidden behind a few icicles hanging on rime-covered pine trees.

When she entered, the same boy was by the lake, and he was holding some strange gadget. Observing him closely, he seemed to be familiar but she was aware that he didn’t know her. She tried to hide while gazing at him, but alas, his somber, light-blue eye caught her contrasting red eyes and was probably calculating what she was doing in there.

 

“Go away…” the blue-haired boy spoke in a quiet but audible tone.

The redhead ignored it, but his face was stoic as the winter is cold. Mars did not submit to intimidation; she just stood there and pretended the blue-head was fine with it-

“Go away!” the blue haired boy yelled at the redhead, but Mars herself rolled her eyes and went nearer. When she was 3 feet nearer, she spoke.

“If you’re truly a boy, yelling to a girl would be a disrespectful act, right?”

The blue-haired boy clenched his fists at his back, and then released them to relax. He then breathed deeply and replied, “Oh-”

 “This… this is a lake, right?” Mars asked which the boy showed a slightly dismayed look.

 “It’s very obvious that it’s a lake. Now you may leave.”

 “What if I didn’t want to?”

 “Why should you be here then?”

 “Well, I think no one owns this lake among us, so we get to do what we want _freely_.” the redhead thus snapped fingers, which the boy stared at her left hand.

 “Are you ambidextrous?”

 “What do you mean?” Mars asked, “And oh, you’re a new face. Tell me your name before I proceed, and why are you here in Lake-”

 The boy crossed his arms, and then said, “Why do you need to know? You don’t even know that-”

 “If I’m not wrong, the lake’s name is Acuity.”

 “H-how’d you know that?!” the boy’s eyes showed a surprised look, “Tell me.”

 “Honestly, I just guessed it. You’re too witty to stand here, you robotics prodigy, so I thought this lake deserves to be called ‘Lake Acuity’.”

“Now could you guess my name?” the boy inquired.

 “I forgot all about it, but your head seemed to have lots of revolving ideas.  I suppose, your name could be Sunny-”

 “I’m not a girl for someone to call me like that foolishly. That’s my hometown-”

 “Hmm, address mentioned. You’re exposed; I lied. I know your name, man.” Mars said, and it brought her a feeling of small triumph. “Your name’s Cyrus, aren’t you? You have appeared on television, haven’t you?”

 The boy scratched his head, “You absolutely blew my turf off. You haven’t even given me a chance to properly introduce myself!”

 "You simply can’t lie-” The redhead was cut off when the same odd tune could be heard echoing around the site. The lake became frozen, and naturally it was slippery. Out of curiosity, the boy Cyrus attempted to walk on the ice, and then Mars went up second, but slid too fast-

 

_Thud-_

 

“Hey!” Cyrus yelled with a salty feel and upturned eyebrows. “Get up, you idiot!”

“How ironic,” Mars replies, “that you once thought of me as someone worthy to talk to you and now I’m nothing but trash!”

Things get heated up. When Cyrus was about to reply, he ditched his hand straight into the freezing water just below the solid ice they were atop. His glove soaked the cool water and as he pulled it out, the glove went deep down the lake, and the frozen layer began to crack.

“Uh-oh…” Cyrus commented, and he attempted standing. However, he lost balance as the huge ice chunk they were on was floating atop the ice-cold water.

“What should we do then?” Mars asked, while thinking that hopping across the ice would not be the best choice-

“I left my Pokémon on the lakeside, and we’re like, three feet away the lakeshore…” Cyrus calmly replied, but the side where he was standing was tilting at a larger angle. “Quick! Stand up!”

The redhead stood up on her side, but the masses at both sides and the lack of tension at the center of the ice chunk broke it into half and they would plunge into the water!

 

 

Just before they fall into the freezing water, a force seemed to pull them upward and then higher above ground. They were floating mid-air! Some unexplainable force was happening in the lake, and after half a minute being afloat, the two were carefully brought down to the lakefront as the water in the lake was super cooled and the frozen layer was replaced.

The eccentric melody could be heard one last time, but it was extended. As they looked upwards, it began to snow lightly, and a yellow, nearly transparent thing floated above. As snowing became more gradual, the yellow thing disappeared, and what made Cyrus lightly slap Mars on the shoulder is hazy-

“Are you ambidextrous?” he asks, gaped at the redhead, and then looked up. “I’m just asking if you don’t mind-”


End file.
